Did I make a mistake?

Both of my cats are overweight indoor condominium cats. I need to get them to shed some pounds. Rosie has been having a problem with hairballs. I've been eager to get my cats on a better quality food than Nutro because Nutro's protein sources are not all coming from meat. Plus, their indoor formula has soy which I do not like and I don't believe they use brown rice in their food, the label says ground rice so I assume it's white rice which is high on the glycemic index. I was going to go with Eukanuba since Petco doesn't have a large selection but then I decided to special order Buffalo Blue Spa Select from Petsmart website. I checked out their website which has a comparison chart www.truebluecat.com and I love their cold formed life source bits.

But it wasn't until after I ordered the Blue Spa Select hairball formula that I found out this food has 500 calories per cup. Can cats lose weight on a high calorie food if the portions are controlled and it's supplemented with wet food or did I make a mistake by ordering such a caloric food and are my cats going to pay for it in vet bills associated with potential obesity? What do you think?

IT has alot of grain MORE than most and has unnamed things like cellulose and fish meal... ohh and cold processing scares me ... See the nutrients added are all there so if the cat doesnt eat it they only get half the nutrition( neither of mine did)... ohhh and cold processeing is not well regulated or tested unless it is deep freeze( this doesnt seem to be)




Ingredients

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Fish MealWHO , Oatmeal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley good but not many cat foods with two meats need three grains, Dried CelluloseUnless specified this can and often is sawdust , Whole PotatoesStarchy ie carbs , Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Chicory Root, Whole Sweet Potatoesadds to the carb levels in a good way wish more of this and less grains, Whole Carrots, Cranberries, Blueberries,would be FAR better in meal or powder form as those are more dense and easier to use ,, Flaxseedoil is best then meal then plain flax as the body cant use it ... also as a omega three it is not bio avail to a cat , Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Alfalfa Meallikely for fiber but with all the other grains and veggies not needed.. alfalfa was removed by many companie s do to causeing tummy upset ,, Kelp Meal, Taurine, L-Lysinea, yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Turmericgood but I prefer a vet be the one giving for a condition, Salmon Oil (natural source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids),[/color] Black Malted Barleyyet another grain thou I need to see if this is processed to sugar like mollassas, Oil of Rosemary,Possible tummy issue, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin C, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Folic Acid, Biotin, Chlorine Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Zinc), Iron Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Iron), Copper Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Copper), Manganese Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Manganese), Potassium Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Potassium), Cobalt Proteinate (source of Chelated Cobalt), Potassium Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Salt, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Bifidobacterium thermophilum, Bifidobacterium longum, Enterococcus faecium.
Crude Protein \t34.0% min
Crude Fat \t16.0% min
Crude Fiber \t8.5% maxsome may get constipated
Moisture \t10.0% max
Ash \t7.0% max
Magnesium \t0.10% maxNOT in the UTI friendly
Taurine \t0.15% min
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* \t0.3% min
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* \t3.0% min lower than most premiums
L-Carnitine* \t100mg/kg min lower than most other premiums that have it

*Not recognized as an essential nutrient by AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles.

Overall yes it is premium but

I recently received a sample of Blue Spa and was disgusted. There were pieces of burnt kibble (like 10-20) and they were not even the same shape of the rest of the kibble. Makes me think bad factory practices.

Originally Posted by kitytize

I recently received a sample of Blue Spa and was disgusted. There were pieces of burnt kibble (like 10-20) and they were not even the same shape of the rest of the kibble. Makes me think bad factory practices.

Click to expand...

were they like little cylanders ??? if so that is the cold pressed bits..

So did I just choose a bad food for my cats? If so I've got 3 bags of 3 pounds to feed anyway. I meant to switch to something good. And Petco just started carrying it so I bought one bag to use while I'm waiting for the other 2 bags to be delivered. So I'm just going to have to feed it for a while.

My cats have been rejecting Nutro lately so I threw it away. I think because I've had it in storage for a couple of months it's already lost much of its smell.

Anyway, my cats need to eat more wet food anyway so if I just put out 1/4 to 1/3 of the dry for them to share, it hopefully won't be too fattening. They do seem to like it.

My cats don't have any UTI issues. Do you think this food would cause that?

Originally Posted by kitytize

I recently received a sample of Blue Spa and was disgusted. There were pieces of burnt kibble (like 10-20) and they were not even the same shape of the rest of the kibble. Makes me think bad factory practices.

Click to expand...

I believe there are suppose to be smaller peices that look burnt, those are the "lifebits"

I tried Blue Buffalo for a very short while. After a single bag, a number of my cat's coats got very dry and brittle. The Blue Buffalo rep was at Petsmart the day I bought that bag and she claims that they have a 100% satisfied or your money back guarantee, even when the bag has been opened. I believe Petsmart will honor that guarantee.

Both the cats here (Chase and my sister's cat) did excellently on Blue Spa.. the only reason I stopped offering it was because they've grown bored of it I guess and won't touch it anymore. (Just my luck I tossed the bag so I couldn't take it back! But yes, Petsmart is excellent with taking back food, I had tried another flavor of it once neither would touch at all and they took that back without question.) So they're back to a Solid Gold/Nutro mix.

A mistake NO ... the best possible for your issues not likely